Today I thought I'd share my practice of meal planning with you. It's how I stay Paleo and don't leave any room for cheats or mistakes. So here's how, and I'll create my meals for the week while I'm at it, double win!

  • First, I pull up all of my favorite Paleo recipe sites and haul out my Paleo cookbooks as well as get my creative juices flowing.
  • Get out a fresh piece of paper (I am SO turning into my Mother here, sheesh).
  • Write out days of the week like below for dinner.
  • Start with protein.  Try to mix up the meats each day and build your dishes based on that (and you don't have to plan out this many days):
    • Dinner:
      • Friday-Shrimp and veggie (yay I has Bok Coy!) stir fry with kelp noodles
      • Saturday- Slow cooker beef stew with Paleo bread
      • Sunday- Nom nom's damn fine chicken, roasted asparagus and garlic green beans
      • Monday- Carnitas "tacos" with marinated cabbage and avo
      • Tuesday- Ground Turkey and sausage lasagna, green salad
      • Wednesday- Dutch oven braised short ribs, cauliflower mashed taters and roasted broccoli
      • Thursday- Salmon with Paleo tartar sauce, sauteed squash and roasted beets and brussels w/bacon
      • Friday- Pork loin with roasted curry cauliflower and veggie sticks (carrots, celery, zucchini) with Paleo ranch dip
  • And below, make and area for breakfast, lunches and snacks:
    • Brekkie and Lunch
      • Homemade beef jerky
      • Avo and bacon sammies
      • Egg Salad
      • Tuna Salad
      • Chicken, egg, tomato, avo bowl
      • Roast beef sammies with Paleo bread
      • Green salads with leftover meat
      • BLT's
      • Baby carrots and pesto dip
      • Cucumber "chips" and salsa and guac
      • Egg cupcakes
      • Fruit salad
      • Almonds/cashews/pistachios
Once you're done with the menu part, then it's time to make your shopping list. I separate mine putting all the meats, veggies, fats and "others" together. Just go through each meal and think about what you need. Don't forget things like fat (coconut oil, olive oil, ghee etc) and spices. For this week I'll need (some of this I already have at home so if you don't see it in the list, I've already got it :)):
  • Meat:
    • Wild caught shrimp
    • Free range chicken drumsticks
    • Pork butt (3-4 lbs)
    • Ground turkey
    • Fresh chicken sausage (from WF meat dept)
    • Grass fed short ribs
    • Wild caught salmon
    • Bacon, nitrite and nitrate free (x2) - cause bacon rocks
  • Veggies:
    • Avocados
    • Salad lettuce
    • Butter lettuce (for "tacos")
    • Squash (for lasagna "noodle" as well as for sautee)
    • Radishes
    • Cucumber
    • Cauliflower (x2- for mashed taters and roasted curry)
    • Brussels sprouts
    • Tomatoes
    • Baby carrots
  • Other:
    • Eggs
    • Unsalted Butter (for Ghee)
Lauren's Words of (Kitchen) Wisdom:
  • I usually don't stick to my meal plan day by day. Sometimes salmon just sounds better on Monday dammit!
  • You don't have to do a full week, create a meal plan for a few days and go shopping and then see what you end up with for leftovers!
  • If Paleo is new to you and you're suddenly subbing out a grain for a veggie i.e. your plate portions are now: meat, veggie, veggie, instead of meat, veggie, startch/grain, consider only doing 1 veggie side or doing 1 cooked and 1 uncooked veggie side. This cuts down on your time in the kitchen and sometimes 2 veggie sides is too much if you're cooking for just you.
  • Another thing that will help is if you can get a few clutch Paleo sauces learned and into your repertoire. Most of the time, sauces like a Tamari/balsamic and a Hollandaise will go fantastically with a variety of veggies. But so does a drizzle of good olive oil and salt and pepper!
  • K.I.S.S.- Keep it simple, sexy! I need to listen to my own advice here but really, these recipes aren't hard and when you create your meals for the week think about how much you're comfortable with doing each night. You can always get more fancy if you want, trust me :)
  • Don't be afraid to mess up! It happens. You should always have a can of tuna and some lettuce in your arsenal for a quick backup plan.
  • Invest in your cookware! No one likes to cook with dull knives, flimsy cutting boards and beat up pots and pans. If you take pride in your cookware it won't let you down, it makes cooking fun!
If you have any questions about the recipes for the week I'd be glad to share them!
Live to Thrive,
Lauren
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